Quick update

Hello all,

I am writing to you on a soggy Sunday afternoon.  Calgary has had a whole lot of rain, which our flowers appreciate, but we do not.  Will is more than 2 weeks past his surgery and had his stitches removed the other day.  His head is healing nicely he is tolerating the IV antibiotics well enough, although it is a bit of a pain to always tote around the pump, tubing and bag of meds.  He thinks he'll be done with them by mid-July. 

Alexis is almost done school...two and a half days left!  We'll celebrate by going out to a movie that afternoon, then she has over a week of chilling out before heading to Pine Lake Christian Camp for a week with her friends. 

As promised, I have been thinking and praying about which treatment to pursue next.  My recent bone scan and bloodwork results dealt another blow to my optimism...they both show likely worsening of the cancer.  This time, I actually feel it.  Between fatigue, back pain and hair loss, it is hard to stay positive.  I think I have decided on a course of action though.  I will likely accept Decadron (a strong steroid to reduce inflammation), an anti-iron medication (I was recently found to have toxically high levels as a result of inflammation), DCA (a "new" cancer drug that is not a chemotherapy, based out of a clinic in Toronto), and I will go back onto a strict diet since I have been less diligent lately.  Now I just have to see if those all fit together when I see my oncologist this week.  Once I start, I can explain more details about each part.

May the Lord bless and keep you this summer,
Shawna

Home to Recover

Will was discharged home yesterday afternoon, and he's thankful to begin his catch-up on sleep.  He has to tote around a small IV bag and pump which administers antibiotics at regular intervals throughout the day.  A home care nurse will check on the IV a couple times per week.  He thinks he'll need to continue with this until mid-July before getting scanned to start the process for getting a synthetic bone manufactured.  This unfortunately delays his return to work, but we'll come up with some fun summer plans to hopefully make the time fly by. 

That's about it for now.  Unless something else comes up, I won't post another note for a week or two, at which time I hope I'll have decided on a course of treatment for myself.

We wish everyone a wonderful end to the school year, which is just around the corner.

God bless,
Shawna

Monday

Again, not much to report.  Will got his semi-permanent IV (PICC) today and is awaiting a consultation with the Infectious Disease team to make a plan.  He got more rest since yesterday, and is looking forward to coming home, likely tomorrow.

Thanks for your concern, 
Shawna

God Moments

Not much to report today.  Besides a lack of sleep for a few nights now and feeling very tired, Will continues to recover well.  He's still on IV antibiotics for the Staph A infection.  He'll be seen by the PICC team tomorrow (so we're told) for his semi-permanent IV.  Then he can hopefully come home and continue as an out-patient. 

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that I keep a journal of "God Moments".  You know, those times when things just seem to line up and "coincidence" doesn't quite explain it?  Well, I'll tell you about a couple of those recently.  I was actually due to leave for Vienna again yesterday, but I just have not felt peaceful about which plan to proceed with, so I opted not to book any flights yet.  Thank goodness, or I would have had to scramble to cancel everything in light of Will's surgery.  Also, my parents had planned to come sometime in June for a visit, but hadn't nailed down a date until last week on Tuesday.  They said they'd leave Friday and arrive Sunday.  Of course, at that time life was ticking along great.  Little did they or we know that we'd need them here to help out this week.  If God cares enough to sort out these little (ok, medium-sized) details, it sure helps us to continue believing He will sort out the big ones too.

Have a great week,
Shawna

Post-op Day 1 - June 9, 2012

Will's surgery went according to plan last night.  He is recovering quickly...already up and about, dressed, shaved and able to eat (not that the hospital food is very appetizing!).  He is waiting to find out which bacteria caused the infection, then we'll know how long he needs to be on antibiotics.  Apparently it'll be several weeks before his head is measured and a synthetic piece of bone is ordered.  Then it takes several more weeks for that bone to be manufactured.  It may be September before he goes back for surgery to replace that piece of bone.  We're not sure when he'll be discharged from hospital, but likely in the next day or two.

Thanks for your prayers,
Shawna, Will and Alexis

Will's Head- June 8, 2012

10:30pm - Will had his surgery this evening.  He's currently in the Recovery Room and will go back to his unit (Foothill's Unit 111, room 18) in a half hour or so.  I haven't spoken with the surgeon yet to find out how it went, but when I know more tomorrow, I'll post again.

5:00pm - I texted some of you yesterday, but for those who are not in the know yet, here's what's happening with Will and his head...  He had some swelling a couple weeks ago, which he had in the past as well and it always went away with no problems.  This time the swelling went away, but his head was tender near his scar and his skin was getting dry.  Yesterday he picked off some dead skin and pus started draining from the spot (sorry for the detail if you're squeamish).  At his doctor's advice, he went to Emergency and they have decided to admit him.  He's on antibiotics as his bone flap (the piece of skull that was removed last July to relieve pressure, and replaced in September) is presumably infected.  He is awaiting surgery which was supposed to happen this morning, but more urgent cases have bumped his time.  Apparently the surgery is not too risky, and we'll know more about what happens next after they've gone in to see what we're dealing with. 

Will's in good spirits, and all our needs are met at the moment.  We appreciate your prayers and concern and will aim to update this site as often as there is news.  Blessings to everyone!

By the way, I changed the settings on the blog to accept comments from anyone, not just if you're connected to Facebook, etc., so give it a try.  I'll find out soon enough if I made the changes correctly.  At the same time, I also modified the title of this blog and added "Will to Recover" again, since our stories seem to blend and never end!

Shawna (for us 3)